


A Boys' Night Out

by Tayani



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Crack, Friendship, Gen, Sleepovers, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:34:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24185968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tayani/pseuds/Tayani
Summary: The Phantom Thieves' boys are having a night out.It, surprisingly, turns out to be quite fun.Written for Free Time Persona Zine
Relationships: Akechi Goro & Kitagawa Yusuke & Kurusu Akira & Sakamoto Ryuji
Comments: 19
Kudos: 134





	A Boys' Night Out

“A’ight, I’d love to kick your ass some more, man, but I’ve got to start heading home now,” Ryuuji said, stretching as he stepped away from the Gun About machine. Akira smirked at him from the side, setting his toy gun down.

“I’m pretty sure  _ I _ was the one successfully kicking  _ your _ ass up until now, Ryuuji,” he said. “If you’ve spent all this time waiting for the right time to start winning, you should’ve told me, I’d have given you some slack.”

Ryuuji sputtered, starting to argue, though Akira wasn’t paying much attention. Behind them, there was laughter, and Akira turned to see Goro and Yusuke walking towards them as they shook some life into their hands after a fierce taiko battle. 

“Who won?” Akira asked, and Goro’s grin widening so much it threatened to hurt his face was an answer enough. Yusuke smiled indulgently, massaging his fingers.

“It  _ was  _ rather a lot of fun either way,” the artist commented. “I’m in awe of Goro’s sense of rhythm.”

“We gotta try DDR next,” Akira said, his smile widening. Goro snorted at him.

“I’d have to respectfully refuse, Leader,” he said. “Not tonight, at any rate.”

“Some other night, then,” Akira said, feeling his heart flutter happily in his chest.

Ryuuji gave up on arguing about his Gun About prowess and slumped most of his weight on Akira’s shoulder, yawning as the four of them moved towards the exit. Akira smiled – he almost wished they didn’t have to leave the arcade just yet.

It became a bit of a tradition by now. Every other week, the four boys would meet up for an outing together – for ramen, games or something else that struck their fancy that day. It was a good bonding practice, Yusuke once commented. No one disagreed with him.

“Do you guys want to stop for some food before we go home?” Akira asked tentatively. Yusuke’s head perked up at the offer, but Ryuuji sighed, shaking his head.

“Can’t, man. Mum’ll kill me if I’m late again, I promised her I’ll help out in the evening.”

“I should be taking my leave as well,” Goro said with a small, apologetic sigh. “Thank you, once more, for inviting me—”

“So what’re we doing next time?” Ryuuji interrupted, to the detective’s obvious annoyance. Yusuke hummed, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

“We have undertaken most activities traditional for this sort of an outing already…” the artist started. “I suppose we have a precious few left. An outing in nature somewhere, perhaps…”

The three remaining boys looked outside the arcade where cold, winter air was sweeping the empty streets. They looked back at Yusuke, who shrugged.

“Or perhaps a sleepover?”

“Oh, that’d be awesome!” Ryuuji whooped, grinning. “Where, though? I guess Leblanc’s the only option… No way I can invite three friends over to my place, this guy—” he pointed at Yusuke. “—has barely enough space for  _ one  _ futon at his, and  _ this  _ guy—” he pointed at Goro. “—is out of the question anyway.”

Akira stifled laughter behind his hand as Goro blinked at the offending finger.

“And why, pray tell?” he said haughtily. Ryuuji grinned at him.

“’Cause you’re a nerd, contrary to my man Akira here. No way you could organize a sleepover.”

“I—I most certainly  _ could _ !” Goro huffed indignantly. Akira smiled at him.

“Would you like to?” he asked. Goro stared at him, suddenly turning just a touch more pink.

“Ah—I suppose… I mean—"

“I have to admit, I’m curious what Crow would organize for such an occasion,” Yusuke hummed with a smile.

“What—man, come on…” Ryuuji groaned and continued to grumble while Akira patted Goro on the shoulder.

“That’s decided, then.”

It could be Akira’s imagination, but as they walked towards the station, joking and laughing in the cold air, he noticed Goro seemed to hang in the back of their group. He was also typing furiously on his phone. By complete and total accident, Akira thought he saw Ann’s icon by the rapid text messages the other boy was firing out.

Akira smiled to himself, looking up into the darkening sky. The sleepover promised to be quite  _ interesting _ .

* * *

Days passed quickly.

Akira didn’t see Goro much over the next two weeks. They’ve met a few times during the infrequent Mementos trips, but apart from that the detective seemed too busy to hang out with any of them – though there seemed to be exceptions to the rule. The times Akira  _ did  _ see Goro out and about, he seemed to be in the eager company of Ann, Haru and Shiho, walking from shop to shop and laughing happily.

Akira would be lying if he said this didn’t make him all the more excited for their sleepover, and when the day finally arrived, he wasn’t disappointed.

The amount of  _ pink _ was surprising, right off the bat. Goro’s apartment was bare and empty at most times but just for this occasion, it has been transformed completely. Fluffy blankets and pillows littered the sofa and floors, strewn among the sleeping bags. There was a whole cosmetic kit on the low coffee table, together with bowls and jars and four jugs of something that looked like lemonade with all sorts of colourful, cheerful add-ons on top. There were snacks – though a lot of them seemed either sweet or of the low-fat, low-carb variety – and bottles of water and green tea. There was a stack of DVDs, with one of them – Legally Blonde, from what Akira could see – already playing on the TV.

And there were magazines, nail polish bottles, hairclips… and Goro. Standing in the middle of it and looking very apprehensive, no matter how much he tried to hide it.

Akira felt laughter well up inside of him. He covered his face with his hand, barely able to stop his grin from showing. To the side of him, Ryuuji drew in a sharp breath and was about to say something, only to yelp when Akira’s elbow collided with his side. Yusuke smiled serenely, walking in with a bag of jagariko in his hand and a few sketchbooks under one arm.

“It looks lovely,” the artist commented, dropping his haul on the coffee table and picking up a bottle of bright-orange nail polish, examining it carefully. Goro gave them a shy smile.

“…does it, really?” he said, in a voice that was most likely a bit more hopeful than he wanted to let on. Akira grinned at him openly, stepping on Ryuuji’s foot when the blond tried to say something again.

“Yeah. Looks like a lot of fun,” he said.

* * *

It  _ did _ end up being a lot of fun, possibly to everyone’s surprise.

After the initial bit of awkwardness they took turns washing up and changing into their pyjamas. Akira was the last one in the queue for the shower and by the time he came out, drying his hair, Ryuuji has been sprawled over the sleeping bags and blankets and being persuaded to try putting on a facemask while Yusuke picked out nail colour polish. Goro has been dared to try the facemask and have his nails done first and went along with it, Yusuke soon becoming engrossed in giving him a beautiful nail art on each finger while Ryuuji dashed to the kitchen to get them all some cold drinks and bring in a plate of chilled cucumber slices for their eyes Goro prepared beforehand.

Akira’s nails were being done next, by Ryuuji and Goro this time while Yusuke leafed through the magazines on the coffee table and the talk moved from their Phantom Thievery to girls, and then to food when Goro went on a tangent about a crepe place he visited recently. Legally Blonde finished playing and Ryuuji picked another DVD he thought was going to be a horror movie and which ended up being a Monster High animation. After Akira’s nails have been painted sufficiently scarlet red, Yusuke took a seat on the designated beauty blanket and let them paint his nails and toes while ranting about the movie’s animation value.

And then, it was finally Ryuuji’s turn – or more likely, the blond finally passed out on top of their sleeping bags, and the other boys decided to work on  _ him  _ as ways of retaliation. Akira put a facemask on him and cucumber slices over his eyes and then sat down behind Goro, starting to braid his hair for him while the detective and Yusuke worked each on one of Ryuuji’s hands. They laughed in quieter voices now, careful not to wake him, but the atmosphere was warm and relaxed and very, very pleasant. Goro’s hair felt soft under his fingertips, his locks still damp from the shower and easily twining into any intricate pattern Akira thought of braiding them into. He felt Goro relax under his touch and smiled more. There was a crunch from Yusuke’s direction and Akira had to stifle a giggle – Yusuke snatched one of the cucumber slices from over Ryuuji’s eyes and munched on it happily, not stopping his work on the blond’s nails.

Goro sighed lightly, leaning a bit back against Akira’s touch. He turned – carefully, not to disrupt Akira’s work on his hair.

“…was it alright? The sleepover, I mean,” Goro asked, eyes looking sleepy but content. Akira beamed at him.

“More than alright,” he said. “You’ve done a great job. And the girls did, too.”

There was only the barest hint of a blush dusting Goro’s cheeks. He cleared his throat.

“It  _ is  _ very obvious it wasn’t my ideas, isn’t it?”

“Well… yes, somewhat,” Akira said, rubbing the back of his neck. “But also, not really? You’re the kind of guy who’d research everything, so it’s somehow super in-character, too.”

Goro hummed. After a moment’s silence, he spoke again, though this time he didn’t turn around.

“Akira?”

“Mhm?”

“You do know I  _ am  _ aware Ann proposed we organize the  _ girliest  _ sleepover available, right?”

“Mhm. Figured,” Akira smiled. “Why did you go along with it?”

He felt Goro shrug his shoulders lightly and could hear the smile in his voice.

“Oh, I thought it would be interesting. I also wanted to see just how much makeup I could put on Ryuuji without getting kicked for it.”

Akira raised an eyebrow.

“Didn’t really go too far with that yet, did you?”

Again, he could  _ hear  _ Goro’s smile.

“Oh, I’m just getting started…”

**Author's Note:**

> If you like my stories and would like updates on my writing process/life/current obsessions, you can find me on twitter [@mikan_writings](https://twitter.com/mikan_writings)!


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